Al-Jamadi was one of the
CIA’s
“ghost” detainees at Abu Ghraib — prisoners being held secretly by the
agency.…

Al-Jamadi died in a prison shower room during about a half-hour of
questioning, before interrogators could extract any information, according to
the documents, which consist of statements from Army prison guards to
investigators with the military and the
CIA’s
Inspector General’s office.

One Army guard, Sgt.
Jeffery Frost, said the prisoner’s arms were stretched behind him in a way he
had never before seen. Frost told investigators he was surprised al-Jamadi’s
arms “didn’t pop out of their sockets,” according to a summary of his
interview.

Frost and other guards had been summoned to reposition al-Jamadi, who an
interrogator said was not cooperating. As the guards released the shackles
and lowered al-Jamadi, blood gushed from his mouth “as if a faucet had been
turned on,” according to the interview summary.

The military pathologist who ruled the case a homicide found several broken
ribs and concluded al-Jamadi died from pressure to the chest and difficulty
breathing.

Andrew Sullivan, one of the few conservatives who seem to be in the least
bit troubled by this, notes:

Why is that detail so important (that it was a
CIA
interrogator who ordered the abuse)? Because the Dubya Squad have been trying
hard to distinguish the ostensibly unauthorized torture that we have
photographic evidence of — the shenanigans at Abu Ghraib — from the “our
lawyers tell us it’s not torture” that they’ve authorized the
CIA to
conduct or oversee.

If the
CIA
was running interrogations at Abu Ghraib itself using techniques that have
already been ruled torture by international courts (Turkey got caught using the
“Palestinian hanging” technique) — there goes that attempt at an excuse.

But the Dubya Squad’s main strategy in all of this has been neither
obfuscation nor secrecy — the size of the tip of the iceberg that’s already
leaked out amazes me. Nope: their strategy is to assume that even if the truth
comes out, the American people and the other branches of government probably
won’t make a big deal about it. So far, it’s working.

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